The Fifth International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony ...

Hybrid Vocal Forms - Mixture of Older and More Recent Vocal Styles and
of Traditional Music Dialects in Jasenica Region in Central Serbia
243
be heard mostly from singers who cultivate only the songs belonging to the more recent tradition. <strong>The</strong> local
names of certain melodic models testify to: 1. specificity of their performance: we encounter terms such as the
high, or great model (according to interviewees` explanations, when it is sung, it is hollered; a variant of the
example 4) and the heavy model (ex. 5); 2. the local feature of the area in which the song was sung, hence the
term mountain model (ex. 4); 3. the function – the wedding model (ex. 1-3); 4. the initial chorus which becomes
the feature of a specific melodic model, beginning with ој or еј-ој (ex. 2, 6). Corresponding terms in eastern
part of the region (Lower Jasenica), as far as we know, have not been noted down.
In order to understand the genesis of these songs correctly, it is necessary to distinguish the elements
of older and more recent two-part Serbian rural vocal traditions. <strong>The</strong> older way of singing is characterized
by the monothematic principle of form building, based on a unique motif material which is repeated and
varies during the meloline; also, non-tempered, narrow tone row 3 and heterophonic, heterophonic-bourdon
or bourdon two-part texture is a significant characteristic, in which an important role is played by the major
second chord (within the meloline and, very often, in the cadence). <strong>The</strong> tendency towards sound amalgamation
and undisrupted continuity of the sound, which is why the leading singer and the group take breath alternately,
are the aesthetic imperative (Petrović, 1989: 66). In the older way of singing, the appearance of diphthongs
is also frequent, for the purpose of „shading” the vocals 4 . Unlike the old singing, the more recent Serbian
two-part rural singing (this kind of singing in also named by its emic term na bas – to the bass) is mainly
characterised by its homophonic texture, more or less consistent tertian parallelism, and the cadence in the
interval of the perfect fifth 5 .
Among the songs recorded in Jasenica as hybrid forms there is a large number of very different examples 6 .
<strong>The</strong>ir characteristics have been specified both in relation to the old and to the new type of singing. <strong>The</strong>ir main
features, which bring them to close relation with older singing, are: cadences in the major second chord (ex.
1-4, 6-8, 10), non-tempered tone rows (ex. 1, 2, 6, 9), intersection of parts by descending the leading voice
to the hypofinalis (as well as to deeper tones of unspecified pitch, by gradual changing, or skip; ex. 1, 4;
Golemović, 1984: 135), the appearance of diphthongs (ex. 1) and alternate breathing (ex. 1-5, 8, 9). In more
recent papers, the principle of monothematism and fragmentarity in shaping the melopoetic form has been
indicated (Jovanović, 2010: 206-208).
What ties in the hybrid forms to the songs from the more recent layer is primarily the homophonic
texture and parallel motion of vocal parts (all given examples); apart from that, there is more or less consistent
occurrence of tone с1 in the accompanying part (ex. 2-6), often in the function of ornamental tone, but in the
cadence as well (ex. 5, 9).
<strong>The</strong>re are two major objective obstacles in identifying and reaching into the norms of formation of hybrid
forms in Jasenica. <strong>The</strong> first problem lies in the incompletely profiled physiognomy of the accompanying part,
especially in the eastern part of the researched area. <strong>The</strong> lack of differentiation is exhibited in inconsistent
occurrence of tone с1 in accompaniment and in inconsistency of cadencing (which can be in unison, in the
second and in the fifth). Interlocutors themselves say that even in the past the role of the subordinate voice
was not quite clear. “People sang as they knew best” is what can frequently be heard during field research;
this implies precisely those different variants of the accompanying voice, which in some cases was clearly
profiled as in more recent singing, while in others – as bourdon on the tone of the hypofinalis and/or finalis.
<strong>The</strong> second problem lies in the fact that the abovementioned features of the older and more recent layers
do not occur consistently in all recorded hybrid forms. This confirms what Dragoslav Dević stated long ago:
“People’s perception of pure performing [of these songs] in terms of style is unpredictable and original”